Sleep
by booksandteabags
Summary: Todd has trouble sleeping. Neil is able to help.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Dead Poets Society, otherwise I wouldn't be writing fanfiction.**

Todd has always had trouble sleeping. His brain refuses to turn off and Todd will toss and turn for upwards of an hour before finally drifting off to sleep. Todd hates it, but doesn't know what to do about it, if there is anything to do about it, so he just deals with it.

Starting at Welton makes it all worse though. Because the Welton workload is bigger than the Balincrest workload, the work harder too. So at the end of a Welton school day Todd is much more mentally exhausted than he ever was at the end of a Balincrest school day. And yet, his brain still refuses to turn off at night.

Neil catches on to all of this pretty fast and gets worried, because Neil can see Todd slowly getting progressively run down. But Neil doesn't know how to help, if he can help. He always chickens out of asking, because he feels like he'll be overstepping some sort of boundary. Once Todd and Neil have been together for about a month, and Todd is looking so worn down and sleep deprived that he's almost starting to look sick Neil finally decides that it is time to finally do what he should have done long ago.

"Todd, are you an insomniac?" Neil asks one afternoon when the two of them are sitting on Todd's bed together, doing homework.

"No, insomniacs don't sleep. I sleep. Why do you ask?"

"I…I've just noticed that you haven't been getting very much sleep." Neil says. "You seem pretty worn down, and I'm worried about you."

"Oh…um, yeah, I do have trouble falling asleep, but I do actually sleep. It…it just takes me a while for me to get there." Todd says.

"How many hours did you sleep last night?" Neil asks.

Todd pauses for a moment to think. "Four, I think. Maybe four and a half, but probably closer to four." He says finally, coming to his best estimation.

"Todd…you need more sleep than that." Neil says.

"I know." Todd says. "But this isn't something that I have a whole lot of control over. I try to go to sleep, Neil, I really do, it…it just takes so long for that to actually happen."

"I…Todd, I'm worried about you, really worried about you." Neil says.

"Well, don't be." Todd says, a bit defensively. "I've gotten used to it over the years, so it's all okay, I guess."

"You shouldn't have to be okay with this Todd." Neil says.

"Yeah, well, what am I supposed to do about it?" Todd asks.

"Take a nap." Neil says. "Right now."

"But…if I can't fall asleep at night how am I supposed to fall asleep in the middle of the afternoon?" Todd asks.

"Because your body needs sleep." Neil says.

"Well…I…it wouldn't hurt to try I guess." Todd says.

"That's the spirit." Neil says, pulling the textbook and notebook off of Todd's lap and throwing them over Todd so they land on the floor, not caring how they land or if the textbook pages get messed up. He quickly does the same with his own notebook and textbook.

"Will…will you stay with me?" Todd asks, bashful and biting his bottom lip.

"Of course." Neil says. "Wouldn't imagine leaving you."

Todd smiles. Neil adjusts his body so that he's lying on the bed, instead of sitting with his back against the headboard like he had been when he and Todd had been working on homework. Neil looks up at Todd expectantly and Todd follow suit. Neil wraps his arms around Todd and Todd curls up against Neil, his head on Neil's chest.

Todd can hear Neil's heartbeat and the steady thump thump act like a lullaby to Todd, lulling him to sleep. Todd has never fallen asleep so quickly. Neil smiles down at Todd when Todd's breathing slows and Todd starts to snore ever, ever so slightly. Todd's snoring is so quiet that Neil has to strain his ears, even in the pure quiet of their dorm room just to hear it. Neil find this almost silent snoring of Todd's to be absolutely adorable. In his sleep Todd's arms manage to find their way around Neil's waist, where they squeeze Neil tightly. Todd looks so peaceful sleeping that Neil finds himself falling more in love with him by the minute.

When Todd wakes up from his nap a few hours later his eyes flutter open and he seems a bit confused about what day and time it is.

"Did you sleep well?" Neil asks softly.

"Yeah." Todd says, his voice groggy with sleep. "Thank you, the best sleep I've gotten in a long time."

"Good." Neil says, unwinding one arm from around Todd to wipe the crusty sleep goo from the corners of Todd's eyes.

Todd blushes slightly as Neil's finger wipes at his eyes, and when Neil has wiped the sleep out of both of Todd's eyes Todd grabs Neils' hand with both of his and reaches up to kiss Neil.

"We…we might have to do this again." Todd says. "Because that was…amazing. I feel so much more rested now."

"Of course we're going to do it again." Neil says.

And they do. Every Saturday and Sunday Todd takes a few hour long nap to catch up on sleep he's missed out during the week. And sometimes during the week, if he's feeling particularly tired Todd will pull Neil away from his homework and into bed and fall asleep against Neil in a matter of seconds. Because with the thump thump of Neil's heartbeat lullaby Todd can fall asleep without having to toss and turn for hours like he does when he's in bed alone.


End file.
